Recommend a decent AF Beer

runningbuddy

Thanks! :pac:. Am quitting alcohol for a few weeks, hopefully longer. But I do like a nice beer. Would love some recommendations!

e.r

Erdinger na all the way for me.

Chilled thou

runningbuddy

Thanks ER. The only one I have ever tried was Becks NA and that was vile

e.r

runningbuddy wrote: »

Thanks ER. The only one I have ever tried was Becks NA and that was vile

Yeah the Becks na tastes as bad as normal Becks

runningbuddy

e.r wrote: »

Yeah the Becks na tastes as bad as normal Becks

Beer flavoured water. Awful stuff :pac:

Effects

Pure Brew is a new one from Open Gate Brewery/Diageo. It's pretty nice. It's 0.5% rather than completely alcohol free.
There's one in Dunnes that's only 64 cent a can that's decent, I'll have to check the name of it though.

gargargar

Just tried Krombacher and it is decent. It is <.5% but tastes pretty close to the real deal.

runningbuddy

Where are ye getting these AF beers?? My local Tesco has nothing!!

gargargar

O Brien's have three or four different brands.

runningbuddy

Thanks Garagar

runningbuddy

Discovered Franziskaner (excuse spelling). Weissbier in Tesco last night (they have their AF corner hidden away lol!!

Very nice it was too if any of ye want to try it folks.

Bassfish

Baltika 0% was one I used to find in a few pubs and was quite nice. Not as sweet and sickly as most AF beers.

sioda

So new AF beers from Heineken and Guiness in the last few weeks the former adds little to the current stock but the new guiness one is excellent

kerryjack

Tried a few places today in Galway city for Heineken 00 not stocked yet I was disappointed. I was away for weekend and looking forward to trying a few bottles of it.

Get Real

Guys. I cannot reccomend the new alcohol free guinness pure brew enough. It tastes lovely.

I have unintentionally ended up not drinking the past month or so. Sun was shining the other day. Got a Guinness alcohol free lager. Tasted amazing. And i had no temptation to continue on.
I knew that I had treated myself to a nice "time out" and had a chat with friends. I then went home and had a herbal tea and wonderful sleep ☺

gargargar

Must check that one out GetReal. As I mentioned earlier I have tried a good few and the Krombacher one nearly tastes indistinguishable to real beer. Unlike nearly all others I tried.

DaeryssaOne

I was on holiday a couple of months ago and really enjoyed the Krombacher, definitely the most similar to real beer I've tried. The new Heineken 0% was also pretty good, it needs to be very cold and you need to drink it pretty quickly as I found it goes quite flat and watery after a while, it is good though and a lot better than some of the vile AF beers I've tried!

munchkin_utd

any alco free Weissbeer like Franziskaner, Erdinger, Paulaner etc. is more than drinkable. You can add a splash of lemonade to it to make it even more palatable .

Of the lagers, the only one I ever found to be middling nice was Paulaner, but thats not available in Ireland.
Becks is also not too bad which seems to be the most readily available one in Ireland, and again, a splash of lemonade into it turns it into an alcohol free shandy.

ciotog

Thought I'd add in a couple of mentions
I'm enjoying Stiegl's Freibier at the moment (it's in a few off-licenses I believe and I've picked it up in Supervalu and Dunnes).
Carlsberg's 0.0 is new to me (Tesco) and I'm finding it quite Becks like (but better)
Dunnes had a German n/a which I hadn't seen before on offer at 5 for 2.50. I got 2 cans and just found it nondescript but not unpleasant.
My brother picked up some of the Budweiser Prohibition Brew in Asda NI for me - it's sweet but I found it quite enjoyable.

My preferred though is still Brewdog's Nanny State (closest to a bitter rather than a lager).

Glad there's more choice out there these days

bikedude

https://www.obrienswine.ie/brewdog-nanny-state-33cl-btl.html

Nanny State, from brew dog if you like IPAs. Taste is the same as good IPAs, and lovelly colour as well if you want to drink in a glass. 0.5% not completely alcohol free.

JupiterKid

I don’t mean to kill the buzz of this thread but if you are an alcoholic especially in early recovery I would try to stay well away from alcohol free beers. The taste and whole association of the taste of beer can easily lead to a relapse onto the alcoholic brews.

This happened me a few times. There’s a saying - “non-alcoholic beers are for non-alcoholics”

ciotog

bikedude wrote: »

https://www.obrienswine.ie/brewdog-nanny-state-33cl-btl.html

Nanny State, from brew dog if you like IPAs. Taste is the same as good IPAs, and lovelly colour as well if you want to drink in a glass. 0.5% not completely alcohol free.

0.5% is the limit (under UK & Irish legislation, I believe) for de-alcoholised drinks. 0.05% is I think the limit for alcohol free - that's around where something like orange juice can be naturally.

ciotog

JupiterKid wrote: »

I don’t mean to kill the buzz of this thread but if you are an alcoholic especially in early recovery I would try to stay well away from alcohol free beers. The taste and whole association of the taste of beer can easily lead to a relapse onto the alcoholic brews.

This happened me a few times. There’s a saying - “non-alcoholic beers are for non-alcoholics”

That's a fair point - if you're in recovery then you should tread very carefully with these. Probably something to discuss with your sponsor/friend/other support group peer/GP/counsellor before trying.

At the same time, they're not an issue for some (they don't cause an issue for me) and could be useful to those reducing or those just looking for something when they're not drinking on a particular occasion.

ceekay74

I'm trying dry January this year so have stocked up on a selection some alcohol free beers. Here's my thoughts on what I've tried so far,

Heineken 0.0 is my favourite so far. Really nice.
Baltika from aldi was really nice too.
Perlenbacher 0.0 from lidl is quite nice.

Pure brew from guinness was really good quality but I'm not a big fan of ipa/craft beer type taste.

Bavaria 0% was vile.
Gerstral from Dunnes was worse.
Becks blue was surprisingly bad. Rotten aftertaste.

Fingers Mcginty

Heineken zero is the best so far that I've tried.
Must try that perlenbacher.

ceekay74

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Heineken zero is the best so far that I've tried.
Must try that perlenbacher.

€3.99 for six 330ml bottles. Well worth it.

Fingers Mcginty

Just got a few there. Thanks for the recommendation
Friend of mine reckons AF beer is a bad thing. It fools your brain into thinking that you are drinking a normal beer which can awaken the sleeping demon that makes you start craving drink again. I dunno ...I can see both sides to the argument.

Fingers Mcginty

Just reporting back that the Perlenbacher from lidl has surpassed all my expectations.
Having 2 here now with the old crubeens warming in front of the fire and no hangxiety to contend with tomnorrow.

ceekay74

I tried a beer from Tesco tonight called Free Damm. 4 quid for 4 330ml cans. Really nice.

Basq

Tried Punk AF by BrewDog over Christmas, and it was REALLY good.

ceekay74

Basq wrote: »

Tried Punk AF by BrewDog over Christmas, and it was REALLY good.

Must try that. Seriously expensive though.

Basq

ceekay74 wrote: »

Must try that. Seriously expensive though.

Thought I saw it for about €6 for 4 cans in my local Dunnes.. could be wrong though

ceekay74

Basq wrote: »

Thought I saw it for about €6 for 4 cans in my local Dunnes.. could be wrong though

Must have a look in Dunnes, it's on sale for €8 for four 330ml cans in Tesco at the moment. Normal price is €10 for four! 😲

Fingers Mcginty

ceekay74 wrote: »

Must have a look in Dunnes, it's on sale for €8 for four 330ml cans in Tesco at the moment. Normal price is €10 for four! 😲

Too costly

Basq

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Too costly

Brewdog regular IPA has an RRP of €10 in my local Dunnes, and I've seen them sell it for more than €8.

Online (TheBeerClub.ie etc) might be the way to go as they may always have them priced around €8.

Fingers Mcginty

Basq wrote: »

Brewdog regular IPA has an RRP of €10 in my local Dunnes, and I've seen them sell it for more than €8.

Online (TheBeerClub.ie etc) might be the way to go as they may always have them priced around €8.

Think I'll just stick to the lidl stuff for 4 quid

Basq

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Think I'll just stick to the lidl stuff for 4 quid

Is that the IPA in the Blue Bottle?



I'd pay the premium for Punk AF having tried that! But each to their own.

Fingers Mcginty

Basq wrote: »

Is that the IPA in the Blue Bottle?



I'd pay the premium for Punk AF having tried that! But each to their own.

Nope ...the perlenbacher lager. Haven't tried the crafty non alchos yet

Fingers Mcginty

Just got 4 X 330ml bru dog for 5.99 in Dunnes

Basq

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Just got 4 X 330ml bru dog for 5.99 in Dunnes

Yep, took a photo in my local Dunnes today:

Fingers Mcginty

Basq wrote: »

Yep, took a photo in my local Dunnes today:

Having a few here. Wow ...these non alchos have come a long way !
Tastes almost like the real thing!

Basq

Yep, it's BY FAR the best of the non-alcho beers.

Enjoy!

ceekay74

Just trying some Carlsberg 0.0 now.

Not bad at all, decent enough taste. Worth the €3 for 4 bottles anyway. (Bought in Dunnes).

Naked Lepper

agreed that Brewdog AF is the best NA beer by a long way
everywhere seems to have them for 6 euro for four pack now - supermakerts anyway ,have bought it in Tesco and dunnes lately

Tastes almost exactly the same as their Punk IPA

carltonleon

Was off the drink for 5 months last year and by far the nicest AF I had was the LIDL Non Alcoholic IPA and only €1 a bottle. The Erdingner N/A was nice as well.

mickrourke

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Just reporting back that the Perlenbacher from lidl has surpassed all my expectations.
Having 2 here now with the old crubeens warming in front of the fire and no hangxiety to contend with tomnorrow.

I 2nd that. By far the nicest I've tasted and the cheapest

Fingers Mcginty

I accidentally bought the fully leaded Perlenbacher in Lidl. I only noticed after my first sip.
After being on the wagon for 4 months this was my downfall. The alco and alco free bottles look so similar.
It was an honest mistake. Strange thing happened. That first sip that i took was bloody disqusting .
Guess what though? It seemed to open up up the flood gates again.
I kept drinking and drank for 2 weeks solid. On the wagon again now over a week so be careful out there folks.

Fingers Mcginty

brew dog nanny state is my new favourite. AF beers have come a log way since the old Kaliber days